Cold
by iinewblood
Summary: A RWBY AU in which Ruby never truly got over her mothers death, and instead, had let it consume her. Will be slow start, but the plot will become more obvious as time goes on. Cross-posted on Wattpad.
1. Prologue

Cold. That's all she could describe; how cold it was.

Pain. Agonizing pain. The pain of an old wound reopening to reveal the scarlet substance that everyone so despises.

Doubt. Doubt that those who leave might never return.

Lies. Lies that rip apart friendships and family, that keep them from seeing the truth; the painful, bloody truth.

Fear. Fear for those whom care, who **cared**.

In this everlasting darkness, this is all she could think. Red, red like roses. Oh, how red that substance appears; oh, how it taunts those around her.

The dreams never came, only nightmares and the realization that **she** was truly gone; gone forever.

Cold. Her heart was a cold, stone-dead entity that to her was lifeless.

Without **her**, who could she trust? Whom could she turn to? Who could love her as **she** once did? To those questions, she had no answers.

And yet she found herself underneath a façade, a mask that shielded her from the world. Fake innocence overshadowed a scared, helpless little girl. Those around her thought she had simply forgotten, that she had no memories of events past.

But they were all wrong. Oh, how wrong they were, how oblivious they were to the pain and suffering she had endured for years! How the pain of **her** death had consumed her, how it had turned an innocent, little girl into an overflowing bottle of pain, fear, hate, and the memory of blood red roses!

This girl had known pain, and those around her had never tried to correct it.

Now this girl was in her second year at Beacon Academy, her façade withered to the point of shattering. It was only a matter of time before **they **knew, but the girl was oblivious to this fact.

At night, her nightmares consumed her. Red, red like roses. The figure that once belonged to **her** shattered into blood-red rose petals. She'd wake up in a pit of sweat and make her way to the roof. She'd always sit in one of the corners and overlook the sleeping academy. Little did this girl know, a curious kitten laid within the shadows; watching, waiting, wanting to comfort this girl. But she never did, she never knew how to. This cat had no idea what was happening to this girl and could therefore not be of any help to her.

That was until tonight. She watched the girl look up into the sky with a longing expression; longing for what? She had no answer. She watched as tears formed in the girl's eyes and watched as a seemingly fake smile spread across her face. What has she crying about, and why did her smile seem fake? Still, no answers. She watched as the girl opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. The girl simply looked down to the stone floor with a painful expression.

She longed to speak, but what could she say? Could she tell the whole world how she felt? Of how she longed to be rid of these hateful and sadistic thoughts? She couldn't bring herself to do it. It seemed she still hadn't gotten over her loss. She knew it had consumed her long ago and had tried everything she could to be rid of it. But the thoughts wouldn't leave her alone. They kept coming, forcing themselves into her mind! They had ridden her of her innocence, of her sane soul! Oh, she longed to be free! To feel what it was like to be normal! But the days passed by, and the freedom never came. Was she destined to suffer for the rest of her life? Never to finally be rid of these horrifying thoughts and nightmares?

She sighed, allowing her shaky breath to be released. She pressed her hands into the cold stone roof and forced herself up. With one last gaze at the pre-dawn sky, she parted from the familiar getaway spot. She moved quietly towards the door to the roof, as if being absolutely sure not to wake any living soul, not even the grimm that lived in the Emerald Forest. Her hand reached for the doorknob and turned it carefully, oh, so carefully. She opened the door soundlessly and closed it quietly behind her. She walked down the stairs carefully, making sure her feet wouldn't make a sound against the metal staircase. She walked down the hallway to her room, standing in front of it and sighing. She carefully turned the knob and closed the door behind her. Shedding her shoes from her feet, she quietly returned to her bed. She pulled the covers over her body and gazed up at the ceiling. Slowly, sleep came to her.


	2. Morning Happenings

The girl awoke suddenly, sitting up almost instantly and panting heavily. Sweat glistened on her forehead, and her panting was loud. She was sure she had woken up at least one of her older teammates, but it seemed as if the room was still and lifeless, only the occasional snore sounding from her older sister's bunk. She sighed in relief and shifted her legs to hang off the side of her bunk. She looked at the digital clock that stood on the nightstand near the bottom bunk. '5:35 A.M' she read, sighing heavily. She had expected to wake up early, but 5:35 on a Saturday? That was not something that happened often. She let her legs fall to the ground soundlessly, her arms keeping her balanced as she landed. She made her way to her dresser, grabbing her workout clothing and making her way to the restroom. She stiffened at the sound of a low, monotone voice. "You're up early today, Ruby." She recognized the that voice. The voice of her faunas teammate reaching barely above a whisper as if not to disturb her sleeping teammates.

"Thought I'd get some personal training in." she answered, her hand reaching for the doorknob in front of her. "I know you get up early and all, but it's never this early." Blake stated.

Busted. Ruby never thought it'd be by Blake, the one teammate she rarely spoke to. The only teammate she knew that could wake up before 6:30, too. "I, uh… gotta go!" she said, using her semblance to open the door to the bathroom quickly before shutting it behind her.

Blake simply narrowed her eyes at her team leader's strange actions, considering she had witnessed her shoot up out of bed minutes before their interaction. Never mind that, she was still bewildered by her leader's actions the night before. Never in her two years of knowing Ruby had she witnessed Ruby breakdown like she had last night. To think that it had been the happy-go-lucky leader of hers that had broken down like that, only made the situation harder to believe.

Blake's bow twitched at the sound of something falling behind the door that led to the bathroom. She narrowed her eyes once more, curious about what had made that noise, yet concerned for her leader's well-being. Her eyes flickered from the door to her white-haired teammate's bunk, noticing the girl's telling movements.

**Another loud fall.**

This time, both her white-haired teammate and her partner above her shot up, both confused and concerned. "What was that?" they both said in unison. Blake looked to the door, her eyes showing more concern.

"No idea…" The faunas stated. Weiss had an annoyed expression on her face, "Well whatever it was, I don't think it was anything good." Her partner above her answered.

The floor shook at bit as Yang jumped down to the ground. Her face showing both concern and curiosity, she walked to the door. "Who's in there Blake?" Yang asked, her brows furrowed. "Ruby is.." she answered, noticing Yang's eyes widened. "Ruby, you alright in there?" The blonde asked while knocking on the door. "Yeah!" Ruby's reply was muffled by the door, but Blake swore she heard both frustration and fear.

Yang's brows furrowed and an expression of concern grew on her face. "Can I come in then?" Yang asked, her eyes narrowed at the wooden door. "N-no!" Ruby answered, her voice shaking. Yang looked hurt but nodded and stood back. "Okay then…" she said, a look of defeat spreading across her face.

* * *

Ruby fumbled with the faucet handle, her hand shaking. That was close, too close. Water poured out of the faucet and Ruby's hands gripped the sink so hard her knuckles were white. She attempted to calm herself down, taking deep, shaky breaths. Ruby looked up at her reflection in the mirror.

_'Something the matter, little rose?'_ Her reflection seemed to smirk and this only angered Ruby. That was unfair, this all was unfair! That voice, that sweet, soothing voice! That voice used to bring her happiness and joy, make her feel safe and comforted. But that was long ago, and the memory of that voice usually brought Ruby to tears. But she couldn't cry now, not when she knew one of her teammates was listening in on her! She instead splashed some water on her face, spitting out the excess into the sink. When she went to grab the towel off the towel rack, she accidentally knocked her toothbrush off the sink. 'Shit!' She thought, her eyes widening in shock and fear.

She pleaded- no prayed- that Blake hadn't heard that. She waited a few moments in silence before sighing in relief. It seemed either Blake had ignored it or hadn't heard it. She bent down to pick up the toothbrush, and on her way back up her forehead hit the edge of the sink. She immediately sprang up and covered it with her hand. It was a hard hit, maybe even hard enough to draw blood. She heard a muffled "What was that?" from the other side of the door. She winced in pain before looking at her reflection and taking off her hand. Her forehead felt warm and it hurt like all hell.

Lo and behold, blood gushed out of a cut in her forehead and she immediately covered it again with her hand. Looking around for anything she could use to cover the wound- she heard a knock on the door. She paused, "You alright in there?" she had heard Yang say. "Yeah!" She lied, cursing herself under her breath.

"Can I come in then?" She heard Yang ask, and Ruby began to panic. "N-no!" Her voice shook in response to the sudden question. She winced in pain as she grabbed the towel she had meant to pick up in the first place. She removed her hand from the cut on her forehead and immediately covered the wound with the towel. 'Shit, shit, shit!' she thought, her breath hitching in her throat. She leaned up against the bathroom sink, her eyes closed and her teeth clenched in pain. Why wasn't her aura activating?! She was beginning to panic; something like this had never happened to her before!

And that's when she heard the door click open.


End file.
